Job Description

The Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge invites expressions of interest from early career researchers who wish to be sponsored for external fellowships to establish an independent research group.


Successful candidates will be of the highest calibre, with an exceptional track record for their career stage and the potential to submit competitive fellowship applications. The department will assist with the development of your fellowship application and practice for interviews. If successful, we have a programme of support to establish your independence as an academic researcher, including setting up your lab and recruiting personnel, as well as mentoring and training to help you develop your career. You will also be supported by the Cambridge Biological Sciences Research Fellowships Framework (www.bio.cam.ac.uk/research/research-fellowships) and peer-to-peer mentoring through the early PI network (www.bio.cam.ac.uk/biological-sciences-early-pi-network). You will have group leader status equivalent to tenured staff, playing a full role in running the department and will be given opportunities to gain experience in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.


The Department of Genetics provides a world class, highly interactive and supportive research environment within the School of Biological Sciences at Cambridge. Research Themes (www.bio.cam.ac.uk/research/research-themes) span the School, providing opportunities to network across disciplines and Departments. The department is diverse, covering a wide range of topics in fundamental genetics and the application of genetic approaches across the biological and biomedical sciences. We are interested in candidates across this range whose research would benefit from and enhance our research environment. Target fellowships include NERC Independent Fellowship, ERC Starting and Consolidator Grants, Wellcome Trust Career Development Award, Royal Society University Research Fellowship, Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship, Branco-Weiss Research Fellowship, MRC Career Development Awards and BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship.


We will support our fellows to develop into strong candidates for Principal Investigator positions in the department or elsewhere. In line with this ethos, we have an excellent record of our past departmental fellows progressing to permanent positions in the University and other institutions.


As a department we are committed to a working culture that celebrates and promotes equality, diversity, and inclusion. We therefore encourage expressions of interest from women, people with disabilities, and people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, as they are underrepresented at senior levels in our university. The opportunity is open to candidates from within the UK and internationally.

Further Details

The Department runs an open and competitive selection process to select the best candidates it will sponsor for fellowship applications. The deadline for applications is rolling, however please keep in mind the time needed to review your application ahead of each fellowship deadline. To initiate this, please send a CV, a 1-page outline of your future research plans, the names of two referees and a cover letter explaining why you are a good fit for the Department, to Sam Laister HRadm@gen.cam.ac.uk.


In your CV, please identify your three most significant papers and provide a brief statement about their contribution. We appreciate explanatory text to provide context and highlight the importance of selected outputs as in narrative CVs. As signatories of DORA (https://sfdora.org/) we do not use journal titles or Impact Factors to assess research quality and candidates should not include uncontextualised citation counts or other metrics such as h-index in their applications.


If you would like to informally discuss this opportunity, please contact our Head of Department, Professor Steve Russell sr120@cam.ac.uk


Please quote reference PC44210 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.


The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.


The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.


Key information

Department/location

Department of Genetics

Salary

Reference

PC44210

Category

Research

Date published

3 December 2025

Closing date

28 February 2026